Freshman Spencer Dinwiddie scored 14 points and Arizona’s Kyle Fogg missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer as the Buffaloes won 53-51 for their first Pac-12 tournament title on their first try.
Andre Roberson had 10 points and 11 rebounds for his 18th double-double of the season for Colorado (23-11), which played in its inaugural Pac-12 season after moving from the Big 12.
The Buffaloes will make their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2003.
Fogg had 14 points and Solomon Hill added 13 for fourth-seeded Arizona (23-11), which lost in the conference title game for the second straight year. The Wildcats were outrebounded 35-23 and shot 36.7 percent (18 of 49) from the field.
Sixth-seeded Colorado capped its title run by winning its fourth game in as many days. Leading by two points at halftime, the Buffaloes extended their lead to 12 on Austin Dufault’s basket with 9:12 remaining.
Colorado went the next 7:47 without a score while Arizona scored seven straight to cut the lead to 50-45, but tournament MVP Carlon Brown threw down a thundering dunk with 55 seconds left to give Colorado a 53-47 advantage.
Arizona answered with four quick points to cut the lead to two, but was unable to get a good shot and Fogg’s contested 3-pointer fell short at the buzzer.
Brown scored 13 points for Colorado, which beat Utah, Oregon and California to reach the title game.
Game notes: Colorado was picked to finish in a tie for 10th in the Pac-12 preseason poll. … Dinwiddie was 1 of 11 from 3-point range over his last five games before shooting 4 of 4 against the Wildcats. … Arizona freshman Nick Johnson, playing in place of suspended point guard Josiah Turner, had five points on 2 of 10 shooting. … Roberson tallied his third double-double in four tournament games. … Arizona was 10 of 18 (55.6 percent) from the foul line after shooting 70.6 percent entering the game.
